cut back
"cut-back" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cut back” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To reduce the amount of (something).
Corpus desk
Index EN-cut-back · cut back · English
cut back · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cut back |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cut back” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cut back is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for cut back, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is cut back, spelled C-U-T- -B-A-C-K.
Definition
- 1To reduce the amount of (something).
- 2To reduce spending.
- 3To reduce consumption.
- 4To perform the cutback maneuver.
- 5To use a short cut; to move to a location to block someone; to cut someone off
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cut back appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The foliage is out of control and needs to be cut back.
Some U.S. banks are cutting back their dealings with embassies and other foreign institutions in the United States because of the difficulty of complying with money-laundering rules, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.